The Fox Hidden in Mahora
by Redhazard
Summary: Negi travels to Japan and Nekane cannot help but be worried. Meanwhile, the newest Hokage is hopelessly bored. An innocent mission request will have big consequences on Mahora.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Negima and I'm not making any money of this.

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**Prologue: The Request**

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Has the monotony of life gotten to you? Do you wish for something new? A change of scenery like no other?

Mundus Magicus has grown stale!

Mundus Vetus is just not that interesting after the first few visits, and the less said of the Demon World the better.

You need something new!

The Elemental Nations!

Enjoy this peaceful world! Travel through the lush forests of the Fire Country. Climb the highest Mountain and explore the deepest caverns in the Earth Country.

Take a dip in the sea! Visit the Land of Water.

Go to Lighting Country, home of famous rapper Killer Bee whose hit album _Longhorn_ has sold out in all worlds!

The Elemental Countries are waiting for you!

Call now!

_-An Advertisement from the Five Elements travel agency-_

* * *

An angry scream broke the quiet in a small house of Wales.

"I can't believe this!" Anya Cocolova shrieked as she furiously paced around the room.

"What idiot thought this was a good idea," She went on. "He is ten. He is wimpy, a shrimp. Him? A teacher? I pity the students!"

Nekane Springfield merely watched with a patient smile on her face as the girl ranted. She was used to this scene. It had happened every night since Negi's assignment was revealed.

"I know you are worried," Nekane said, ignoring the embarrassed denials those words prompted, "but everything will be fine. The headmaster of the school is an old friend of The Magus. Negi will be well taken care of."

It was the same thing she told Anya every night, and just like every night it did nothing to quell the worries in the young girl's mind.

"T-that's not the point! He is a kid, a kid! There is no way he is responsible enough to live on his own," the girl said, completely ignoring the same could be said of her.

"Plus," the girl went on, "I have been doing research on Japan."

Nekane blinked. This part was new.

"Did you know that it has one of the highest human to non-human ratios in the entire world?"

"Well, that's…" Nekane began nervously. She had known that. She had just hoped Anya wouldn't find out.

The girl kept going not giving Nekane an opportunity to think of an excuse. "There is also a huge amount of demons sealed there. Really nasty ones."

"Well, those are-"

"They have killer robots!" Anya shouted. "What if Negi ends in a class with a robot?"

As a robot Chachamaru did not have any sneeze protocols. Nevertheless, sneeze she did. She made a note of the phenomenon in her database and resolved to ask Hakase about it during her next check-up.

Back in Wales, Nekane sweatdropped. "I don't think that's something we need to worry about."

Anya went on as though she had not heard her. "The humans are dangerous too. There are supernatural high school students and magical girls! Plus, half-demons that look like humans but they are only waiting for an idiot to lower his guard, and–"

"Anya," Nekane said softly but firmly. She gently grabbed the girl's shoulders. "Negi is going to be fine. Mahora is a safe place. There are special barriers around the city that protect the school from outside forces."

They also kept many demons sealed, but Nekane was not going to share that particular detail with Anya.

"But what if they aren't from outside? What if Negi ends up in a class filled with supernatural students?"

"Now, don't say things like that. I am sure Negi will have wonderful, normal students."

"But-"

"No buts," Nekane said firmly and Anya knew the conversation was over.

"Now, it's getting late. Let's get you to bed," Nekane said as she led Anya to her room.

Inwardly, Nekane congratulated herself. There had not been any sign of falsehood on her face during their talk. Given the type of school Mahora was, chances were most of Negi's students would not fit into any definition of normal.

Nekane knew and accepted that. Mahora was far from the only school that taught magic in secret.

It was normal even.

Not dangerous at all.

Nekane sighed and rubbed her temples.

Anya's words had awakened old memories. Negi was not the fist mage to be sent to Japan. She recalled a group of her classmates had ended there as part of their training. The stories they had brought back had been quite…disturbing: people under ancient Chinese curses, aliens, random monsters looking for "Heart Crystals" whatever that was.

She had not given it much thought at the time. Surely they were exaggerating their experience.

Right?

It was, perhaps, silly to let Anya's tales rattle her, but Negi was far too important.

That night Nekane decided to write an important letter.

She needed to call professionals.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was the Sixth Hokage.

During the Fourth Ninja War, he had fought against Akatsuki and stopped the Moon's Eye plan, bringing peace to the land. His deeds in the war earned him fame and the respect of many. When the time came for Tsunade to retire, he was the natural choice.

Two years had gone by since then.

Naruto was the Hokage, respected and loved by all.

He was also quite bored.

The days of fighting between ninja villages were long gone. There were still some old grudges. Years of fighting did not go away so easily, but the efforts during the war had laid the foundations for peace. Under the rule of the five Kage, the relationships between villages had improved considerably.

It was great.

If maybe a little too boring.

War was bad. Naruto had learned it through experience, but too much peace left him with little to do.

What happened to the awesome ninja battles?

Even before he became Hokage, and thus doomed to a life of paper work and diplomatic meetings, the missions he had taken after the war had been too easy.

Uzumaki Naruto had become too strong.

Few people could give him a good fight and those who could were not always up for a friendly spar. Oonoki frequently cited back problems. Even before he retired and left the Hat to his son.

There was Killer Bee, but the Raikage had forbidden his brother from ever sparring with Naruto again.

Apparently the Raikage had liked that mountain range.

As for Sasuke… well, there was more than one problem there.

The lack of a good fight was almost enough to make him miss the Akatsuki.

Almost.

Naruto enjoyed peace as much as the next guy and maybe more, but he needed some action. If there was one downside to being a Hokage it was the need to sit in his office for most of the day.

A Hokage was not supposed to take missions. He was supposed to stay in the village and keep order.

Uzumaki Naruto needed ways to entertain himself.

So, he... improvised.

If a particular mission request happened to catch his eye, well, no one could blame him if he deemed it important enough to check it out in person.

For the safety of the village and all.

He just had to make sure to leave a few shadow clones behind so no one would notice he was gone. He was pretty Shikamaru would not see things his way.

Party pooper.

This time an unusual request had arrived to his office. Naruto idly toyed with the mission request. The job itself was hardly unusual. One Nekane Springfield requested a bodyguard for her cousin. It was a simple enough job.

But it came from the Old World.

There was more than one world. That was one piece of knowledge Jiraya had made sure to drill into his head.

Their world was just one of many. In theory, there were hundreds and maybe even thousands of different worlds out there. No one had ever traveled enough to know for sure.

Even a man with like Jiraya only knew of a few worlds, the so-called Old World among them.

It had the distinction of being one of the few worlds in constant contact with another world, Mundus Magicus.

The Magic World.

Every year many people traveled to and from the Magic World to the Old World.

As a rule, ninja did not make a habit of travelling to other worlds. They knew they were there but they had no reason to involve themselves in their affairs. They had enough troubles as it was.

Until recently at least.

Peace, while good, had rather negative effects on the number of missions they received.

The Old World and the Magic World provided a nice supply of customers while the villages recovered from the war and adjusted to their new circumstances.

Which meant they received missions like this now.

Naruto idly toyed with the request. A burst of wind chakra sent it flying around his office like a paper plane.

As far as decisions went, this wasn't a hard one.

A handseal and a few clones later, Naruto disappeared from his office.

* * *

"…and that's why I am going to need you to give me a job where I can keep track of Negi," the ninja finished cheerfully.

Konoe Konoemon was used to surprises. He was Mahora's headmaster. Impervious to surprise was a requirement for his job (It really was). He had seen almost everything.

A ninja from the Elemental Countries suddenly dropping into his office was certainly new. Not surprising but new.

Konoemon had been doing some light paper work when the young man had come into his office with a document signed by Nekane Springfield and began to tell his story.

The fact that he had managed to sneak through all his security was certainly impressive.

He would have to verify the young man's identity of course, but Konoemon would be lying if he said he had not expected this. It was hardly the first worried guardian he had to deal with.

As a matter of fact there were currently a total of forty-seven students who had special bodyguards hired by their guardians watching over them, his granddaughter included.

"Uzumaki-san," he began, "I trust you understand teaching here is important for Negi's training."

"Yeah, I got the gist of it," Naruto said, waving a hand. "Last stage of training to get some real world experience and all, right? I know how that goes. Don't worry, as long as it doesn't directly threaten his life, I don't plan to interfere."

Unless it looked like fun.

But saying that would not make a good first impression.

The aged headmaster ran his fingers through his long beard. "That would be for the best."

It really would. The Thousand Master had many enemies. One more set of eyes could not hurt.

"Would you be okay with a teaching position?" He asked, placing both elbows on his desk.

Naruto blinked. "Don't I need a license for that? I had expected a janitor job or something."

"You have nothing to worry about. The PE teacher had an accident recently and has decided to retire. Who better to replace him than a ninja?" Konoemon asked with full honesty.

"True," Naruto said.

There was something to be said about the common sense of the people in the room.

"Very well, you will start next week. The paper work should be done by then," Konoemon said, smiling.

"Just like that?"

"You are hardly the first unexpected visitor Mahora has to accommodate," Konoemon replied. "It has become a tradition of sorts by now."

"Cool!" Naruto said. The old man was alright. Now, he just needed one last thing.

"By the way, do you know any good ramen places? Running all the way from Wales made me hungry."

Konoemon stared.

"…I… would recommend Chaoi Bao Zi. It has a wonderful cook," Konoemon said with barely a hint of surprise on his voice.

"Thanks, gramps!" The ninja shouted, waving as he walked out of the room, through the door this time.

Konoemon sighed. He had not expected this addition to young Negi's training.

Who would have thought the latest Hokage would be playing bodyguard?

He was no fool. He kept himself informed even on the affairs of other worlds. The age of the new Hokage was no secret and the power he had felt coming from the young ninja, although hidden, had been the real deal.

It may be an assumption at this point, but he would bet all his money on it.

In the past, Konoemon had the fortune of meeting the Third Hokage. The old ninja had radiated competence and wisdom. He was exactly what one would expect from the leader of a ninja village.

The young Uzumaki was different. There was a sense of lightness around him. Quite a contrast to the older Sarutobi, yet Konoemon could see the steel behind those eyes.

It looked like things in Mahora were going to get even more interesting.

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Prologue: End

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AN: So I wrote this and a few other chapters like two years ago. They have been in hard drive gathering dust to the point I had almost forgotten about them.

It wasn't until I started writing **The Return** that I remembered this fic. I decided I had nothing to lose by posting the story. I grabbed this chapter, cleaned it up a bit here we are.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not satisfied with this prologue, but at the same time I don't feel like rewriting the whole thing.

Now some background stuff:

**Mundus Vetus **also known as the Old World/Real World. It is the world where Negi and the rest live in. It is the normal world. The old world is also the birthplace of humans.

**Mundus Magicus **is the magic world. Mundus Magicus is an alternate space on Mars. Somewhere in the past humans migrated to this world and settled there. Unlike in the Old World, magic is common knowledge.

Then there's the **Ninja World**, more commonly known as the Elemental Nations (not everyone can have a fancy Latin name). This is where the tale of Naruto takes place. Some crossovers like to have the Naruto world be inside the real world, but I decided to go for the separate dimensions route. The details of Ninja Dimensional Travel will be revealed as the story goes along.

Remember to read and review!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Naruto and Negima are not owned by me.

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Boss,

It is as you suspected. Five Elementals Travel Agency is secretly managed by ninja.

If there is any motive other than money, it is lost on me. To all appearances this is just a travel agency and a damn good one at that. I cannot recall the last time I had a trip this good.

I can confirm what previous reports stated. This world is at peace. There have not been any major conflict in over a year. The reason remains unknown.

Additionally, I regret to inform you I was unable to procure a copy of _Longhorn._

My apologies. I am aware of how much you were looking forward to it.

_-From the Desk of Kurt Godel-_

* * *

Naruto ate ramen atop of a building.

That's what cool ninjas did.

Maybe not the ramen part (weirdos), but ninja liked to use tall buildings to look over the city, preferably with the full moon in the background.

The afternoon sun would have to do for Naruto.

Naruto let out a content sigh after making short work of the ramen. He had to admit Konoemon had good taste. The ramen was good. Not Ichiraku good, but few things were.

"Man, this place is nice," Naruto said, placing his empty bowl beside him.

Despite being such a large city, Mahora had a homely feel to it. The buildings were not as big as the ones in Tokyo or even some cities back in the Elemental Countries. Instead, Mahora had plenty of small buildings and houses with plenty of open space in between.

Also, it had a giant tree. Couldn't forget that part.

"Weird," Naruto said.

Then again, the Hokage Mountain in Konaha probably looked weird to outsiders so maybe he shouldn't talk

Naruto smiled and closed his eyes, enjoying the wind against his skin. He let a few moments pass, before opening one eye.

"So how long are you going to stay silent over there?" He asked.

The small ermine who had been in the process of quietly sneaking out of Naruto's backpack froze in his tracks. A strong hand the grabbed him by the tail and lifted him up.

"…eh, hi?" Chamo tried once he was face to face with Naruto.

This had so not been part of the plan.

It was simple. It came to him the moment he had seen the guy come into Nekane's house. A brilliant idea only his mind could conceive!

Hitch a ride in the ninja's backpack.

Chamo had been planning on going to Japan. The ermine needed a way to escape the punishment for his many underwear thefts. Plus, Negi was his bro! You didn't leave a bro alone.

Especially when he was living in such a good hiding place.

Hitching a ride with the ninja had seemed a much easier and safer alternative to Chamo than travelling on his own.

What could possibly go wrong with that?

Being caught apparently.

"Now, who are you and why did you sneak there?" Naruto asked, studying the little creature.

Naruto was mostly curious. The ermine was hardly a threat. He did not even sense any ill intent from him. Otherwise, he would have never let the animal sneak into his backpack in the first place.

Chamo gulped.

"Eh… that is…."

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Yes?"

Chamo gulped as a kunai appeared in the blonde's hand. This was not good at all!

_Calm down, Albert Chamomile. You can do this!_

Mustering his confidence, Chamo began to tell his story.

He told Naruto the sorrowful tale of a lone ermine. A catastrophe had claimed the lives of his parents. The ermine went through life experiencing loss after loss. In his darkest hour, a lone kid had helped the dashingly handsome and clever hero. How else could the awesome protagonist repay the kid but by swearing to stick with him till his dying day?

It was a heartbreaking story.

Most of it was a complete lie.

"…and that's why I am here," Chamo said, as he looked at the setting sun in just the right way.

Man, he probably looked awesome right now.

Naruto let out an impressed whistle. "You know, I got to hand it to you. Most people would stop after the death of the parents, but you went all the way and killed your adoptive parents too."

Chamo did not do things halfway.

"I am guessing the part where you are Negi's familiar is true at least. Right?"

Chamo nodded, annoyed the ninja had not at least pretended to buy his story, but grateful the kunai in his hand had disappeared. "Yes, I have been at Aniki's side since he was five years old. How could I leave him without my support now? This Albert Chamomile will do his best for Negi!"

Said best included helping Negi make lots of provisional contracts in order to become filthy rich.

Naruto rubbed his chin.

"Well, I suppose that's alright." It was training but there was nothing wrong with the kid getting help from his partner.

He had always enjoyed summoning Gamahiro during his spars with Jiraya.

The look on the old pervert's face had been priceless the first time he had summoned the giant toad on top of him.

_Food Cart Destroyer_ was an awesome jutsu.

"There is just one thing," Naruto said as the thought struck him. "I can't have Negi knowing about me being his bodyguard. Promise to keep quiet about that, okay?"

"Sure thing bro," The ermine replied crossing his fingers behind his back, an impressive feat for an ermine.

"…You are lying to me, aren't you?"

Chamo started to sweat. "What? Of course n-arrhg!"

As Chamo tried to figure out what had happened to his tongue Naruto put back the small brush that had suddenly appeared in his hand back in his backpack.

The ermine was unable to see it but his tongue now sported an inky black symbol.

And the old pervert said he would never be good with seals.

"Yeah, that will do," Naruto said satisfied with his work, before letting go of the ermine.

"What was that for?" The ermine asked.

"Eh, just a minor seal," Naruto explained. "You won't be able to talk about me until I release it. Don't try washing it off. It won't work. Besides, the ink will vanish in a minute or so."

With that said the blonde ninja vanished in a whirlwind of leaves leaving Chamo alone in the rooftop.

It occurred to Chamo he did not like ninja very much.

* * *

Today was proving to be a bad day for Negi Springfield.

And it had been such a nice week too!

He was getting to know his students. Plus, his relationship with Asuna was no longer antagonistic. They had even gotten to the point where he could say they were friends. Asuna would not admit it, but she was stubborn like that.

It was slow progress, but progress all the same.

Then his students had an argument with some high school girls and he had failed to stop it. Had Takahata not been there, he didn't know what would have happened.

It was a sobering reminder. He still had ways to go as a teacher.

If only that had been the end of that.

The P.E. teacher in charge of that class had been unable to attend and Negi had to fill in for him. Using the court right next to the middle school dorm had not been his idea, but he had been unable to stop the Saint Ursula students.

Predictably another fight with 2-A had started.

The Dodgeball game should have solved things. A friendly game was just what the girls needed. It would allow them work out their aggression in a safe way.

Negi really should have known better.

Not even a full minute later, Negi was set to be the prize for the victor and the girls of 2-A with Asuna and Ayaka leading them were glaring daggers at the high school girls.

"Girls maybe it would be better if we-"

"Negi-sensei, rest assured this Yukihiro Ayaka will not let them have even a single hair of your head," the blonde class rep declared, cutting off Negi's objection.

"Damn right!" Asuna said, in a rare moment of agreement with her rival. "Don't worry Negi. We got this."

"Then it's agreed!" Faster than Negi could voice his many objections with the game (starting with the fact that he was sure that teaching arrangements did not work this way) a loud voice boomed through the field.

Negi sighed. Today was definitely not a good day.

"Who the hell are you?" Asuna asked as everyone turned towards the source of the voice.

The child teacher looked at the new arrival. He was a young man with blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a black tracksuit with orange lines running along the sleeves.

"Isn't that obvious?" The man said with a grin on his face. "I am going to be the referee!"

"What gives you the authority? This is a private game," one of the high school girls said. Murmurs of agreement rose from both side of the court.

The blonde chuckled. "What give me the authority? Listen and listen well. The name is Uzumaki Naruto and starting next term I will be working as PE teacher here at Mahora!"

"There is no way. You are too-" Asuna immediately stopped what she was about to say.

Naruto gave her an amused look. "You weren't about to say, 'you are too young to be a teacher', right?"

Asuna tried really hard not to look at Negi.

She tried.

"… No."

Naruto smiled.

"Good, because you'd have looked really silly if you did," Naruto said earning a glare from Asuna. "That's right I am your teacher! In fact, I'm the best damn PE teacher in the whole world."

Konoemon had it right. Who better than a ninja to teach PE?

"It is not like you can ask your homeroom teacher to be the referee. That wouldn't be fair to the other class," Naruto added.

"I-I woul- I would n-never," Negi said or tried to at any rate. A reassuring hand on his shoulder stopped his spluttering. The child teacher looked up to find Naruto right next to him.

Most of the students were left wondering how he had gotten there without anyone seeing him move. A few recognized the sudden movement for what it was and were now quite interested in the new teacher.

"You are one serious kid," Naruto said with a smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you would be unfair. It's just a formality for these things."

"How?" Asuna said with a slight twitch in her eyebrow. "How did you move all the way there?!"

"Best. PE Teacher. In. The World. 10 meters in 10 seconds or less is nothing," Naruto said, not bothering to mention he could go way faster. "We went over this already."

"Isn't he more like a world class athlete?" One of the students commented.

"Anyway," he said, ignoring them, "non-players get out of the court. The game is about to start."

Moments later the girls were facing each other on the court and Negi had somehow ended up as a player. On the sidelines, a green haired girl who was obviously a robot had gotten her hands on some fireworks and three class cheerleaders were shaking their pompoms.

With a blow from Naruto's whistle the game started.

The high school class students began their attack and… gently threw the ball at class 3-A.

Bop.

Bop.

Bop.

"Three out," Naruto called as the ball bounce from head to head.

Then it happened again.

"Four out," Naruto said. Only now were the girls starting to realize their large numbers put them at disadvantage during dodgeball.

"Hold it! Isn't this situation unfair? With our numbers we can't move on the field," Asuna said, now realizing they had been tricked when they accepted having a team with twice the amount of members.

"I must agree with Asuna, Uzumaki-sensei. The conditions of the match are hardly fair," the class representative added.

Naruto closed his eyes, pretending to give the matter some thought.

"The number of people on each team was something both sides agreed on. I will allow it."

"But they tricked us!" Asuna said.

"Yeah, and you failed to realize it in time," Naruto replied. "You were okay with it when it gave you thought it gave you an unfair advantage."

"Yes, but that…I mean," Asuna struggled to come up with an answer.

"Already complaining?" the leader of the high school team, a pretty black haired girl, asked mockingly. "I shouldn't be surprised. After all, you are just brats."

Asuna's eyebrow twitched. That did it. She had it with those snobby upperclassmen. She threw the ball at the leader with all her strength.

Only to watch as the girl casually caught it with one hand.

"No way!"

"Asuna lost?"

"And she even threw it with full Baka Power."

"Who the hell has Baka Power!" yelled Asuna, face lit up with an angry flush

"What a sad team," the enemy leader said. "Still, the difference in our strength is nothing to be surprised about. It is not like you had any chance of winning to begin with."

With a snap of her fingers her classmates strung into action. School uniforms were discarded and thrown to the wind, prompting Makie to cover Negi's eyes.

No need for their cute, impressionable teacher to see high school girls exposing themselves.

However, the high school girls had not suddenly decided to strip. They were wearing dodgeball uniforms underneath.

"Behold! Kanto's Regional Dodgeball Champions, Mahora's Black Lilies!" They declared as one.

The announcement left class 2-A in shock. What type of high school students participated in Dodgeball tournaments? Were there even high school Dodgeball tournaments to begin with?

At least most of them were thinking that. Others like Negi were clapping, impressed.

"Wait, isn't this definitely unfair now?" one the girls from 2-A asked Naruto.

"Unfair? This was a match between middle school and high school from the start. Does it matter if you find out the opponent was stronger than you thought? You should have expected this! Instead, you all took the world of Dodgeball too lightly and now you're paying for it!" Naruto said, pointing with excessive pomp.

Dodgeball is serious business.

With their objections ignored, the game went on. It was not even a contest. The Black Lilies gained a wide lead and eliminated the leaders of Class 2-A, Asuna and Ayaka.

The game would have ended right then and there had it not been for Negi. The young boy's speech managed to restore the girl's spirits. Naruto's estimation of him went up a few notches.

"I see you don't know when to give up," the high school captain said. "Shouldn't you understand this already? From the beginning it was useless for you middle-schoolers to try to fight us."

"Five second rule," a blue-haired girl said from the sidelines. "According to the rulebook it is forbidden to hold the ball for more than five seconds. Please hand over the ball."

"How would an amateur like you even know that?" one of the high school girls protested.

"I-I always carry a compilation rulebook with me," the girl said shyly.

A brunette with her hair done in Chinese style buns laughed. "Way to go Honya!"

"Taking advantage of the rules to make up for lack of skill… underhanded, but I'll allow it!" Naruto said giving her thumbs up, ignoring the girl's sputtered denials.

The ball was back in 2-A's hands, and their counterattack…

…

Their counterattack was definitely not Dodgeball. The ball was kicked, dunked, and grabbed by a ribbon.

A blonde haired, dark-skinned girl even managed to pull off an overhead kick. Soccer fans all over the world would have cheered.

"Out, out and yeah that's pretty much it. Game over," Naruto said.

"Wait a second," one of the girls protested, "no matter how you look at it that was definitely not Dodgeball. Isn't that against the rules?"

It was a bit of a grey area.

"Against the rules? Isn't that a way of blaming your lack of skill. As Kanto's regional champions shouldn't you have won even with the way they were playing?" Naruto said.

The girl flinched.

"Well… yeah but-"

"But you took them too lightly. Learn from it. Victory of this match goes to Class 2-A!" Inwardly, Naruto cheered himself. He probably looked really cool now.

Indeed, the girls backed down after that.

Most of them backed down at least.

The leader was quite angry and threw a ball at Asuna's back only for Negi to intervene. The teacher managed to stop the ball and threw it right back at the girls.

With a little extra.

As soon as the girls touched the ball their clothes were torn to shreds.

Naruto deduced that was probably magic and also noted that Eiko's lacy, black underwear was considerably more daring than that of her classmates.

Ninja had keen observation powers.

As Negi was lifted in the air and congratulated by his students on his 'super shot', Naruto decided to retreat for now.

He already had a good grasp on the kid's personality.

Negi was the overly serious type. A worrywart. Like a younger Ebisu. Only popular.

Naruto's grinned a little. He was the best type to mess with.

Negi felt a chill go up his spine.

* * *

Later in the day, Negi, Asuna and Konoka returned to their home. Class 2-A was easily excitable and the girls had thrown a victory celebration at Chao's restaurant.

Free of charge of course much to Chao's chagrin.

"Negi," Asuna began.

"Yes?"

"That weirdo. You really don't know anything about him?" the girl asked.

"Nothing," the child teacher answered. "I was not informed about any new teacher, but I am also new at Mahora so that may be the reason."

The comment earned an angry sigh from Asuna.

The mysterious new teacher had been a topic of discussion the party, mainly his looks. The girls were happy there was new eye candy around. After all, not all of them were "old-men obsessed perverts" as Misa had eloquently put.

Not all of them had been talking about his looks though. A few of the students had realized the new teacher was not normal and wondered what his purpose was.

Then there was Asuna. As a devoted lover of old men she was not swayed by the blonde ninja's good looks and she did not have the skill to recognize a badass ninja when she saw one just yet. She knew one thing though.

"I don't trust that guy," the girl said. There was something about him. She couldn't put her finger on it.

"I don't know," Konoka commented. "He seems like a cheerful person."

"Don't let that fool you," Asuna said with force. "Something's not right with that guy. He's like…like a fox."

An idiot's instinct was a frightening thing.

"Asuna-san, you are over thinking things. I am sure the Principal would not have hired him if he was not trustworthy," Negi said tried to pacify her

Konoka let out a small giggle. "I wouldn't know about that. Grandpa does have weird tastes."

"Yeah, look who he put as our homeroom teacher," Asuna said dryly.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

* * *

In a secret underground lab, another student of Class 2-A contemplated her own worries about the newest addition to the faculty. In her case, the root of her concern was not grounded on simple instinct but facts.

Uzumaki Naruto, Sixth Hokage, was at Mahora.

Chao Lingshen prided herself on being a calm, rational person. It was one of the reasons she could face Negi Springfield every morning, in spite of growing up hearing all the things he had done and how great he had been.

No, Negi Springfield was not just great, he was legendary.

A small part of her even considered the idea of going against him laughable.

However, reason triumphed.

She knew that was not the case. She knew Negi was only a kid at this point in time. He had not yet done all the things that made him a legend. That is why she could go on with her plan.

She could simply treat him as another mage-in-training, albeit a talented one.

Uzumaki was different.

Records of his time in the Elemental Countries were sketchy at best and the long-lived bastard had never really bothered to give her exact dates when he told her stories. There was only one thing she knew for certain.

He was strong.

People did not become Kage by collecting bottle caps.

Chao sighed and reclined her body against her chair. Uzumaki's arrival complicated things, but that did not mean she would give up. She could not back down under any circumstances.

There was too much at stake.

She had plans to make.

* * *

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Author Notes:

Upon revision a part of me really wanted to rewrite the whole chapter, but I had promised myself not to do so. Still, reading what I wrote more than a year ago was kind of painful. The dodgeball scene in particular.

Some line were even taken from the manga. Hopefully, there are less now after the revisions.

I do not like just rehashing manga events, but it will take a while for the full impact of Naruto's presence to be felt. That said, you can see the beginning of the ripples caused by him this chapter. Hopefully.

**Chapter Glossary**

**Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer – **Using a standard Summoning, the user of this technique summons a giant creature _above_ his enemy. The ensuing fall is destructive to say the least.

**Longhorn – **Killer Bee's hit single. It is said you cannot be a true fan of him unless you have this. However, finding it is quite hard and the pre-order list is really long much to Godel's chagrin.

Don't forget to review! Your feedback helps me get better, which means you get a better story to read about.


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